Video game addiction a mental disorder?

[MegaDrive20XX]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25703498&sid=6172582&om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;6

This article does bring up many finer points of what can happen with withdrawl.

Especially the online multiplayer titles such as World of Warcraft, Everquest, and Final Fantasy XI.

Yet to label it as a sickness/mental disorder. Would you consider it a serious problem to look into?

Recently, in South Korea. They have opened medicial clinics to cure people of video game addictions. Will our country continue this as well?

[Push Upstairs]

You have to do video games in moderation, just like about a million other things in life.

Addiction can be applied to just about anything that a person enjoys.

[NEScollector1982]

addiction is the disorder, it has nothing to do with specific relation to video games.

[7th lutz]

I am not shocked this issue being brought up. There had been internet cafe deaths reported in Korea in the past due to them playing video games online without drinking water or eating food. This is not a seriousproblem in the United States, but in Korea. In that country, parents play video games so long, that their child dies. Video games themselves did not cause that.
Videogames themselves are not a mental disorder.

Anything addicting can be a mental disorder it is depending on the person.

[FantasiaWHT]

I am so sick of "experts" labeling every variation of the human pysche a disorder. Why do they do it? Because more disorders and diseases = more money. More federal and state funding for research, more jobs for psychologists and psychiatrists, more drugs that need to be developed. It's also about control. The more disorders that are out there, the more reason for the social services to take over more aspects of our lives.

Their eventual goal is to have everybody diagnosed with at least one disorder, so that nobody is free of their influence.

[OldSchoolGamer]

If videogaming makes me mental, then by god DON'T LET ME BE SANE! \\^_^/

[goemon]

I am so sick of "experts" labeling every variation of the human pysche a disorder. Why do they do it? Because more disorders and diseases = more money. More federal and state funding for research, more jobs for psychologists and psychiatrists, more drugs that need to be developed. It's also about control. The more disorders that are out there, the more reason for the social services to take over more aspects of our lives.

Their eventual goal is to have everybody diagnosed with at least one disorder, so that nobody is free of their influence.

So how do we fight back? Do tinfoil hats work against them? :p

Seriously, some people can become addicted to anything. With the popularity of videogames, it's no wonder some people are addicted to them.

[Alucard79]

It's not an addiction... I can quit whenever I want... Ok, maybe just one more level, no not this level, the next one coming up...

[Sanriostar]

I sometimes wonder if there isn't 'something' in everyone's brain that can get hooked. Like we're all dormant addicts until we come across that one thing that does it for the brain.

[diskoboy]

Then call me insane... Stamp my hand, and lock me away in a room with a 70" 1080p HDTV, and all the consoles and games ever created, and lock me away from the general public.

I'm just crazy like that :) ;)

[heybtbm]

"Addiction" is a myth. People always have the ability to make a choice. There are some people whose brain chemistry makes it harder for them to make those choices...but we all have the innate ability to do so.

Addicted to video games: stop playing.
Addicted to alcohol: don't take another drink.
Addicted to food: don't eat that cupcake.

Life is only as complicated as you make it.

[Blackcrow]

So how do we fight back? Do tinfoil hats work against them? :p

Seriously, some people can become addicted to anything. With the popularity of videogames, it's no wonder some people are addicted to them.


Tinfoil hats always work what a silly question to ask. :2gunfire:

[Neil Koch]

IIRC, there are already some video game-specific treatment centers in Europe. I'm pretty sure on the episode of Intervention with the game addicted guy, they sent him to a game addiction specialist.

This subject has come up here a few times, and like it's already been said in this thread, anything that gives you pleasure and/or an escape from reality can become an addiction for certain people, whether it's food, shopping, TV, sex, drinking, etc.

[CreamSoda]

You have to do video games in moderation, just like about a million other things in life.

Addiction can be applied to just about anything that a person enjoys.

You hit the nail on the head. It's pretty clear we all enjoy videogames here(obviously!), and there is nothing at all wrong with that. But it's the people that spend 72 hours straight playing WoW or EverQuest that scare me.

[Iron Draggon]

LOL people used to have these same conversations about D&D... playing it too much, losing touch with reality, alienating family & friends for the game... not much has changed since then except the medium for playing the game... the sad fact is, some people just take the RPG's they play way too seriously...

[ReaXan]

I think video game addiction is something that is very prevelant now,then say in the 2600/NES days.

Video games are a part of popular culture and around my campus i see people playing gears of war or halo on their 360's and I find that pretty normal and healthy.Their are even some jocks I know who love Final Fantasy.Video games dont have a high dork factor as some people would think.

The people I say that have a video game addiction are the ones who suppliment video games for real life experience's.I like this forum because even though their are alot of hardcore gamers,I can see myself getting along with the majority of them if we were to hang out in real life.They seem to take their collection's seriously and in general just love video games like I do.Their are some people here who annoy me,but overall I like the demographic who post here

The one's I dont like are the ones I run into who work at gaming stores or into D@D heavily.I have tried to make a legitmate effort to be friendly and informative in my gaming discussions with these people because I am a collector myself.The bad apples I have ran into are very hypercritcal of video games,especially RGP's and seem to lack basic social skills like conversating with someone and not appearing to be a horses arse.I probably would come across as normal to most people in talking about my video game experience's to these people from an outsiders point of view,but these antisocialites have a huge sarchastic overtone that seems to just irk me when I am just trying to make a new gaming friend.They look down at you when you like to play sport games or arent into anime.These type of people are the ones who give gaming a bad name,the ones who let gaming affect their lives and make them into people you dont wanna be around,gaming or not.To those people who play D@D,you probably know the weird ones I am talking about,like your embarrased their from the male race at their total lack of understanding of how to be a man or at least know how to talk to girls on some level because they refuse to get out and experience life on some level outside of gaming.

[Neil Koch]

I think you're kind of getting matters confused. There has been (and probably always will be) a certain segment of gamers who are elitist dicks. It's the same with a lot of hobbies.

Even those sorts of gamers definitely display odd/bad behavior, there's still a pretty big gap between that kind of asshole behavior and people who do crap like having Mountain Dew bottles all around their computer so they don't need to get up to take a piss.

[8Ways2Tuesday]

Actually... I do have OCD (obsessive compulsive) and I use games to keep my hands busy when otherwise I'd probably be doing something destructive. Most of my behavior is things I do so unconsciously that I can only make a rational decision to stop after I've begun.

We had a guy at work, years ago, who once he found out I liked games would talk incessantly about his Everquest characters and miss work all the time for events. He... had a problem.

And I would suspect that a small handful of the people here might show OCD 'hoarding' behavior when it comes to their collections. I think being aware of it is key.

[Vinnysdad]

I am so sick of "experts" labeling every variation of the human pysche a disorder. Why do they do it? Because more disorders and diseases = more money. More federal and state funding for research, more jobs for psychologists and psychiatrists, more drugs that need to be developed. It's also about control. The more disorders that are out there, the more reason for the social services to take over more aspects of our lives.

Their eventual goal is to have everybody diagnosed with at least one disorder, so that nobody is free of their influence.


Thank you. Why must everything be labeled and medicated? Its getting out of hand.

[Technosis]

To those people who play D@D,you probably know the weird ones I am talking about,like your embarrased their from the male race at their total lack of understanding of how to be a man or at least know how to talk to girls on some level because they refuse to get out and experience life on some level outside of gaming.

My co-worker refers to these people as "Parent's Basement Boys". She's always complaining about her brother who won't get a job and continues to live off the parents. And yeah, there's no girls (or other people apart from other gamers) in this brother's social circle. She's worried what the guy will do when the parents aren't around anymore.......

BTW, here's a semi-related NY Times article on the Japanese named "hikikomori"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/magazine/15japanese.html?ei=5088&en=7b1fdacbeb794332&ex=1294981200&pagewanted=all

[Carey85]

When the day comes that you're pooping in jars or you lose a high-profile job due to videogames, is the day you should admit an addiction...